At Tuesday night's debate, ten of the 20 Democratic presidential candidates made their case for why they should be the nominee. Former Maryland congressman John Delaney, currently hovering at one percent in the polls with 70 percent of people split between "never heard of him" and "heard of him, but no opinion," used his opening statement to take on the party's leading progressives:

Folks, we have a choice. We can go down the road that Senator Sanders and Senator Warren want to take us, which is with bad policies like Medicare for All, free everything and impossible promises that will turn off independent voters and get Trump re-elected. That's what happened with McGovern. That's what happened with Mondale. That's what happened with Dukakis. Or we can nominate someone with new ideas to create universal health care for every American with choice, someone who wants to unify our country and grow the economy and create jobs everywhere. And then we win the White House.

If Delaney wanted to cast himself as the night's main opponent for Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, CNN seemed happy to oblige him since no other self-identified moderates on stage were willing to consistently attack the senators. Prior to Tuesday, Delaney's biggest media moment during the campaign came when he was booed for a solid minute at a California Democratic convention for saying the Medicare for All, a proposal that hasn't fallen below 50 percent popularity since early 2016, was both bad policy and bad politics. On Tuesday, he was shut down succinctly by Warren. After Delaney referred to her policies and goals as "impossible promises" and "fairy-tale economics," Warren retorted with the night's most memorable line: "You know, I don't understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for. I don't get it."

At another point, moderator Jake Tapper asked Sanders for a response to Delaney's claim that Medicare for All is both bad policy and "political suicide." Sanders's response was typically brusque: "You're wrong." He elaborated: "Five minutes away here, John, is a country, it's called Canada. They guarantee health care to every man, woman and child as a human right. They spend half of what we spend. And by the way, when you end up in a hospital in Canada, you come out with no bill at all. Health care is a human right, not a privilege."

Later, Delaney, who previously worked in health care finance and has a net worth of more than $90 million, said of Medicare for All, "I've done the math and it doesn't add up." Sanders retorted, "Maybe you did that and made money off of healthcare, but our job is to run a nonprofit healthcare system."

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Also on Medicare for All, Tapper asked the candidates, "whether the middle class should pay higher taxes in exchange for universal coverage and the elimination of insurance premiums." Sanders replied that he was talking about eliminating premiums and deductibles, but he also took issue with the question itself, saying, "Jake, your question is a Republican talking point. And by the way, the health care industry will be advertising tonight on this program." Warren echoed that point, asserting that as Democrats their goal wasn't to take health care away from people: "Let's stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that health care."

After the debate, MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews pressed Warren on how much universal health care would raise taxes, but she pushed back, insisting that the real issue was how much families would have to spend on health care in total.

Meanwhile, Delaney appeared on Fox News Wednesday morning to defend himself against Warren, saying of the candidate best known for meticulously explaining her policy proposals, "That’s the response when someone really can’t defend their plans."

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